Graduate Student Resources

Announcing
The AAS Conference Travel Award


Due Date:  1 February 2017
Funding available:  3 awards of $250 each
https://scout.eee.uci.edu/s/pnefqhyim-2017

Eligibility:
- Graduate students (M.A. or Ph.D. programs) working with Asian American Studies faculty on Asian American Studies related research.  Students who completed or are completing the Asian American Studies graduate emphasis are prioritized.
- Applicants must be current students presenting a conference paper on their own original research.
- The conference must take place during the 2016-2017 academic year, including summer 2017.

Selection criteria:
 Significance of presentation for the field of Asian American Studies
 Demonstration of ongoing mentoring relationship with Asian American studies core faculty
 Proof of acceptance to a national/international professional meeting (i.e. Association for Asian American Studies, American Studies Association, Modern Language Association, etc.); 

Application will consist of:
 application form, including short paper description, budget request, and indication of any additional sources of funding secured or applied for;
 evidence of conference acceptance
 a short letter of support from the student’s faculty adviser.  The letter should confirm that:
 1) the conference is of professional merit in the student’s field,
 2) that the student will be presenting professional work related to Asian American studies at this conference, and
 3) the letter must be signed by the student’s faculty advisor.

The following list designates expenses that are reimbursable. Applicants will be reimbursed only up to the travel grant award amount ($250) and all reimbursement requests must include appropriate and adequate documentation (original and online receipts, hotel folios, airline receipts, etc.).

 Transportation: including airfare, transportation to/from airport, and mileage if driving own vehicle. Mileage will be reimbursed at the federal reimbursement rate (http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/104715). Please include mileage calculation and a map.
 Accommodations
 Conference registration fees
 Food and beverages are not reimbursable

If you have questions about the proposal guidelines or difficulties with electronic submission (through EEE Scout), please contact Prof. Christine Balance (AAS Director of Graduate Studies) at cbalance@uci.edu.

CALL FOR PAPERS
QUEER PLACES, PRACTICES, AND LIVES III
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
COLUMBUS, OH

MAY 12-13, 2017

Confirmed keynote speakers:
MISS MAJOR GRIFFIN-GRACY, MEL CHEN
We invite proposals for the third queer studies conference at The Ohio State University.
Following on the successes of the previous “Queer Places, Practices, and Lives” conferences—
the first held in honor of former Buckeye Samuel Steward, who donated funds to further research
in LGBTQ studies—we seek proposals on any topic related to the field. Scholars, faculty, staff,
graduate students, undergraduate students, artists, activists, teachers, social workers, community
members, and anyone else interested in discussing LGBTQ issues are encouraged to submit. We
welcome individual submissions as well as panels and roundtables of three to four participants.
Although the call is open to all topics, we hope to highlight, in part through the keynote speakers,
current work being pursued on queer and trans relations; Black liberation; prison abolition;
demilitarization; de-colonization; Native sovereignties; migration and diaspora; trans of color
movements; and trans, disability, and intersex justice.
Send a 300-word abstract, 2-page CV, and, if appropriate, a brief panel or roundtable description
to osuqueerconference@gmail.com. Please include 3 keywords with your submission.
Deadline: Dec. 16, 2016, extended to Jan. 27, 2017.
Direct inquiries to Joe Ponce ponce.8@osu.edu.
For information and continuing conference updates, visit https://sexualitystudies.osu.edu/QPPL.
***
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a formerly incarcerated Black transgender elder and activist who
has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years. She is a veteran of the
Stonewall Rebellion and a survivor of Attica State Prison, a former sex worker, and a community
leader and human rights activist. Miss Major is simply “Mama” to many in her community.
Her personal story and activism for transgender civil rights intersects with LGBT struggles for
justice and equality from the 1960s to today. At the center of her activism is her fierce advocacy
for her girls, trans women of color who have survived police brutality and incarceration in men’s
jails and prisons.
As part of Miss Major’s keynote, we are proud to screen MAJOR!, the new documentary film
exploring her life and campaigns. MAJOR! is more than just a biographical documentary. It’s an
investigation into critical issues of how the Prison Industrial Complex represents a widespread
and systematic civil rights violation, as well as a historical portrait of diverse LGBT
communities, told with love and humor, and personalized through the lens of a vibrant and
charismatic woman. Through first-person narration and innovative visual storytelling, MAJOR!
seeks to create a living, breathing history of a community’s struggle and resilience, as seen and
experienced by those who lived it. The documentary, produced by filmmakers Annalise Ophelian
and StormMiguel Florez, continues to win awards and to be featured at film festivals across the
US and internationally.
Mel Y. Chen is Associate Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at UC-Berkeley and Director
of the Center for the Study of Sexual Culture at the University of California, Berkeley. Chen’s
2012 book, Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect (Duke UP, MLA Alan
Bray Award), explores questions of racialization, queering, disability, and affective economies in
animate and inanimate “life” through the extended concept of animacy. Chen’s second book
project concerns the relationships among the conceptual territories of toxicity and intoxication
and their involvement in histories of the shared interanimation of race and disability. Writing on
cognitive disability and method, the racialization of pollution, and more can be found in Journal
of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, Transgender Studies Quarterly, Discourse, Women
in Performance, Australian Feminist Studies, Medical Humanities, and GLQ. Chen coedits, with
Jasbir K. Puar, a book series entitled “Anima,” highlighting scholarship in critical race and
disability post/in/humanisms at Duke University Press.

Asian American Studies
Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2017-2018
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Asian American Studies Department (AAS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign seeks
one postdoctoral research associate for the 2017-2018 academic year. This is a one-year,
non-renewable, appointment. Applicants should conduct research germane to Asian American Studies. 
Proposed research projects should have the potential to make a significant contribution to the
field.  This associate will be housed in the Department of Asian American Studies, but will also be
provided opportunities to build a supportive on-campus community with the associates from African
American Studies, American Indian Studies, and Latina Latino Studies.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, must have received a doctorate or
appropriate terminal degree within the past five years or have completed this requirement by July
31, 2017. They must demonstrate promise for a tenure-track appointment at a research college or
university and their primary research focus must be Asian American, and/or transnational Asian
populations in the U.S. and across the Asian Diaspora.

Appointments have a target start date of August 16, 2017, and are for a nine-month period, August
16, 2017 – May 15, 2018. Recipients must be in residence full-time at the University’s Urbana
campus for the duration of the appointment, and may not
hold other fellowships or awards during the appointment period. During their stay at Illinois,
postdoctoral research associates will be expected to participate in research and teaching. While
research and participation in the intellectual life of the program is the
primary responsibility, research associates will be expected to teach a course in Asian American
Studies. The specific teaching
duties will be decided in consultation with the Associate Head..

Postdoctoral research associates will receive a $47,476.00 salary paid over a 12-month period
(August 2017 – August 2018),
$5,000 in research funds, and a comprehensive benefits package. The program will provide the
research associate with office space.

To apply, create your candidate profile through the University of Illinois application login page
at http://go.illinois.edu/AASPost- DocFellowshipApplication and upload your application materials:
ï‚·     Cover letter
ï‚·     Curriculum vitae
ï‚·     Statement of current research and writing plans
ï‚·     Up-to-date curriculum vitae
ï‚·     Scholarly writing sample (20-25 pages)
ï‚·     Official graduate transcripts
ï‚·     Three letters of recommendation (including one letter from the dissertation advisor) should
be sent to:

Post Doc Review Committee
Department of Asian American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1208 West Nevada Street, MC 142
Urbana, IL 61801
Letters of recommendation can also be e-mailed directly from the recommender to clyke@illinois.edu.

To guarantee full consideration, application materials should be submitted to the AAS office by
5:00 p.m. on
February 20, 2017.
For further information on the Asian American Studies Department, please visit our web site:
http://www.asianam.illinois.edu. Questions regarding the postdoctoral research associate positions
and application process should be directed to Christine Lyke (clyke@illinois.edu).
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an AA/Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes
individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and ideas who embrace and value diversity and
inclusivity. (www.inclusiveillinois.edu).